UCLA

Concerns over privacy are central to many high-profile socio-political debates, yet relatively little empirical research has investigated privacy beyond the realm of digital communications. A dual-inheritance perspective posits i) there are universal psychological mechanisms which evolved via natural selection to regulate the dissemination or withholding of information, and ii) cultural evolutionary processes have given rise to corresponding cultural institutions, including cultural models of privacy. Here, I propose a theoretical model of privacy based on this perspective, in which cultural concepts of privacy are shaped by evolved psychological mechanisms which serve to regulate the transfer of fitness-relevant information towards adaptive ends. I present the results of a U.S. online vignette study that explores some of the core predictions of this model. Results are consistent with the proposed theoretical model, with participants’ privacy evaluations predicted by the intentionality of information acquisition, the extent of information transmission, and the identity of the individuals to whom information was transmitted.